DREAM middleweight Gerald Harris has no beef with Krzysztof Soszynski and Matt Serra. But he certainly takes issue with their recent comments on steroid use in MMA.

The UFC fighters recently made headlines by declaring performance-enhancers a rampant problem. Soszynski went so far as to say 85 percent of fighters use them.

To prove that statement wrong, Harris now plans to take drug testing into his own hands as he prepares for his overseas debut in Japan at DREAM.17.

“I want to be tested in every single fight,” he today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “My next fight in DREAM, I will work something out where I get a full steroid test. I’ve already talked with the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission doctors and said, ‘Hey, I want to get tested in Japan.’

“I don’t care if they test me all week, the day of the fight and after. I want to be tested the entire time, and I want the results to be shown on MMAjunkie.com so people can know there are clean fighters out there.”

Since Soszynski and Serra’s comments, Harris, who hails from Tulsa, Okla., said he’s been accosted on Facebook, Twitter and in person by fans and friends who have questioned whether he’s clean. He emphatically said he doesn’t use drugs and invites any fighter who thinks otherwise to have him tested.

“If Soszynski and Serra jump on [MMAjunkie.com] and say, ‘Gerald Harris, take a test today,’ I ain’t payin’ for it. But I will take that test with no problem.”

He admits he, too, is aware of a steroid problem. But he said Soszynski is casting too wide a net.

“For a sport that’s trying to build – to even mention it without facts and throw numbers out there, I believe is unfair,” Harris said. “Our sport isn’t even popular enough to get a bad name right now. That doesn’t help.

“I’m not saying hide it, but if you don’t have facts, I don’t think you should speak on it.”

The topic of performance-enhancer use is, in fact, old news. Several fighters have spoken about steroid use in recent years. UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock admitted to longterm use, and around the same time, current UFC welterweight Dennis Hallman estimated 50 percent of active fighters juice.

“Hallman admitted to using it before,” Harris said. “I used to train with Hallman. He’s a good guy; he’s a very honest guy. When he says something like that, I don’t get mad because he surrounded himself with people who do those things.

“I assume that Serra and Soszynski, they don’t need (performance-enhancers). Those are two guys that are all about hard work. I think they’re just like me. They’re upset with the guys that are cheating.”

Asked for a reaction to Harris’ statements, Soszynski said he’s not trying to disparage fighters. He said he’s gathered anecdotal evidence on the subject during his nine years in the sport, and he’s simply fed up with what he believes is a widespread problem.

“I’m not trying to make [fighters] look bad at all,” he said. “Steroids have been around sports, around athletes for years. Look what happened with baseball, football, the Olympics. Guys are failing drug tests all the time.

“All I’m trying to do is make sure the sport doesn’t get tainted. And the only way to do that is to actually have some stricter testing. That’s all. If people hear me out about it, that’s great.

“I hope the athletic commissions will one day start testing the fighters 12 weeks (and) eight weeks out from a fight because testing them the day of the fight means absolutely nothing. Only the idiots who are taking the stuff are going to get caught because they don’t know how to take it. Do some research, and you can find all the answers on the Internet. If you know how to take it properly, you will never fail a drug test. Guys know when the date of the drug test is. That’s the problem. If we did random testing, then I hope I get proven wrong completely. But from my experience, I highly doubt it.”

Harris agrees that stricter drug testing – in addition to harsher punishments against those who use performance-enhancers – is the solution to the problem. As for the use of prescribed testosterone, which has become a hot-button issue since the suspensions of Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt, his stance is uncertain.

“I have nothing against anybody who’s been accused or has accidentally failed a test because I have friends who did not know they were using substances; it was something in their supplements,” he said. “It happens. But I have something against anybody who knowingly takes steroids. I really hate them as a person. I think you’re a coward, you’re a cheater, and you’re a punk.”

So when he fights Nakamura at DREAM.17, which takes place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, Harris wants the world to know he’s clean.

“People are going to assume that every athlete who’s doing great or that’s built athletically is on something,” Harris said. “People always say, ‘He’s got to be on something.’ That’s not always true.”